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I spoke to Spektrum in the US last week regarding legality of the DX6 in the UK. I was assured it was legal as detailed in the manual.
I also spoke to Ofcom who told me the Spektrum was legal for use in the UK.
Regardless of what the distributor have told you, Ofcom are the people who say whats legal.
Can your distributor provide you with specific information regarding what is illegal?
Why are they not for sale anywhere in the UK then? surely if they sell the DX3 over here they would sell the DX6?
There is a big difference between using a radio in the UK and selling one. There is an approval process any radio device must go through before it can enter the UK market and I can only assume that this hasnt been completed yet.
As the rules for model use of the 2.4GHz spectrum have only recently changed I would imagine that this has hindered any process the DX6 must go through before entering the UK market... But this does not change their use in the UK.
The facts are:
1. The DX6 outputs 10mW which is legal for use in the UK, even for models.
2. The DX6 is CE stamped
3. The DX6 is FCC approved
4. Ofcom confirm it is legal to use in the UK.
Is it not just a case of the DX6 is illegal in the sense that it cant yet enter the UK market, but its operation in this country is perfectly legal?
As Kane says:
quote:
There is a big difference between using a radio in the UK and selling one
Or has everyone now realised this and Im only just catching on? :crazy:
After all said and done, what are the experiences from the people that used their DX6s in the last UK champs?
Is it safe to assume that the FRA will allow 2.4Ghz systems just like the 40 Mhz and 459Mhz?
The DX6 is without doubt the best radio I have ever used, it leaves 40 Mhz PCM for dead! (both in outright performance and ease of use)
John and I conducted a range test at the event with one fitted in Scorpion Evilution.. We swiched on the weapons drive motors (chain disconected of course!!) and John went walk-about with the TX... He got across the field over the railway line and was heading past the funfair when he finaly got fed up with walking and came back! (A distance of at least 200M) Not once was there the slightest twitch or loss of control. (In fact he claimed he could have driven the machine from the campsite!!)
The FRA will need a vote to approve its addition to 40 & 459Mhz at the next committee meeting, but I think the out-come of that vote is already a forgone conclusion!!
I was having huge problems on the first day with my 40mhz duel conversion set and could not get more than a couple of metres away! I went back to birmingham after my first fight and bought a DX3 so that i could continue fighting. I didnt get a glitch at all!
The receiver was taped by the side of my astros and still worked perfect! 2.4Ghz will wipe the market very soon.
Ordered mine and sold my 40Mhz set, so i hope its allowed :)
Theres one thing niggling at me about the 2.4Ghz solution and thats performance of multiple units. Ive discussed this with an 802.11 development engineer here at BT Labs to get his view on this.
You start with 80 channels in the 2.4Ghz spectrum - excellent I hear you say. A Tx uses two of these and isolates the two around it meaning that each Tx uses 6 channels. With 80 channels available that means you can only have 12 units at the same event live at any time.
What happens when you have more than 12 ? How do you control what goes on - as you cant run TX in the standard manner ? Equally a WiFi access point in the vicinity will use a slice of that spectrum taking whats available down further (in fact WiFi uses around a third of the 2.4Ghz spectrum). Bluetooth phones will also take chunks out of the spectrum.
So in a situation where youre running near a WiFi access point you could find that you can only run a maximum of 8 transmitters at any one time (less if someone has bluetooth enabled).
The problem is how do you know ? How do you enact transmitter control in this situation. What do these transmitters do with they cant allocate a frequency ? Do they multiplex themselves in with the other transmitters ?
Whilst the small number of 2.4Ghz transmitters used at the UK Champs demonstrated that they can get a signal from point A to point B very well when used in isolation/small numbers I would STRONGLY suggest that before we all rush out and buy one someone does some research into what happens with large numbers of these units come together (and as the maths above shows, large may only mean 8 or 13 units). There doesnt appear to be a consensus on what should happen at this point.
I feel it may be premature to call this a forgone conclusion unless you know something I dont know - and something the 802.11 development engineer beside me doesnt know !
Ed
http://www.teamstorm.com
And yes I thought this point amongst the 2.4Ghz will wipe 40Mhz off the planet and its a forgone conclusion that bold seemed worth using to get your attention
I would have read it anyway Ed, even without the bold text.
The fact of the matter is, that no matter what frequency you are on, you should not turn on any transmitter unless it is to fight your robot or to test it on the bench (during events I mean of course).
Unless we do an super melee like we did in the end of the championship, most of the time we wont run any more then 10-12 robots in the arena at the same time anyway (that is with feathers).
Apart from that, I do agree that you might want to test a bit more, but this also poses the problem If 2.4Ghz is not allowed yet, we will never have enough TXs to test it properly.
For me it is pretty simple. If the robot does not respond in the arena, it will lose. What frequency the robot is one makes no difference in that. The only question is, will it produce a safety issue if it does? To me, it looks like it doesnt. Therefore I see no reason not to allow it.
It is untested territory to some extend, however as long as people that are going to use 2.4Ghz know this, I feel the choice should be up to them. If people feel comfortable to take that chance, I would let them. I will take my chances just because the benifits outweigh the possible problems for me.